President Jacob Zuma appeared stress-free and quite relaxed at his birthday festivities on Wednesday, saying that his supporters should pay no heed to ‘matters’ happening elsewhere.<\/p>\n
The president danced and smiled along with his supporters, while tens of thousands of people marched to the Union buildings in Pretoria, calling for him to step down.<\/p>\n
It was the second march within a week, protesting Zuma’s recent actions where he fired former finance minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas, causing global ratings agencies to cut the country’s credit rating to junk.<\/p>\n
The first march was led by civil action groups and represented more of the typically stoic middle-class taking to the streets in protests, while the march held today was led by seven opposition parties, united under one banner of seeing Zuma fall.<\/p>\n
When\u00a0Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association chairperson Kebby Maphatsoe told the president that he\u00a0should relax and not stress about the marches, Zuma responded saying that he wasn’t stressed, as it was a white man’s disease<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Speaking on the marches specifically,\u00a0Zuma said that it was just the opposition being the opposition – and there was no point being the opposition if they didn’t oppose something.<\/p>\n Zuma added that there hasn’t been a single ANC president that hasn’t been attacked by the opposition, and encouraged the ANC to not be afraid, and just continue doing their jobs.<\/p>\n He said that in December a new leader for the party would be selected, and come January, the opposition would attack them too.<\/p>\n Zuma previously said that the marches against him last week were racist.<\/p>\n
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